


The Curious Curse of Luna Lovegood P1

by RavensFlight



Series: The Curious Curse of Luna Lovegood [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Anti-werewolf Luna, Brief mentions of suicide, Really just practice, Weird writing Style, rumours galore, trying to not be dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23539360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavensFlight/pseuds/RavensFlight
Summary: A little practise plot-bunny fic where Luna is a wolf every day but the full moon, and kinda just wanders around while the rumours about her get more and more wild. Maybe she can make some friends if nothing else.P2 may or may not come, but hey, I love making rumours so it probably will eventually.
Series: The Curious Curse of Luna Lovegood [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693978
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	The Curious Curse of Luna Lovegood P1

**Author's Note:**

> Very Brief mentions of suicide. Beta'd by Wolf Antlers, any remaining mistakes are me butchering English because I like the way it sounds.
> 
> If you're someone waiting for my main series to be updated don't worry, this is just meant to break up that writers block ^-^

Luna Lovegood was a curious case, in all fairness, but she didn't seem to believe that. She took the train like all the other first years, though she had a private carriage, and she sat in a boat to cross the lake like all the other first years, though she had her own. She barely noticed the stares, barely noticed the wide berth she was given by the other students. She barely even noticed how she was the only one taken aside by the ginormous man that led them across the lake. That was to say, she did notice it all, and really just paid it no mind.

She followed the mountain around curving hallways and up and down moving stairs, taking in all the varied and new sights and smells. It was rather overwhelming. Some corridors were grey and cold with very few smells, a feline smelling like expensive feed, a strange and mouldy smell that reminded her of her father's friends, and the occasional twin smell of explosives. Other corridors were brightly coloured, carpets haphazardly lay corner to corner, hundreds of portraits moving and conversing, the smell of hundreds of sweaty teens, the crackling scent of spells, the hundreds upon hundreds of unique and playful scents practically soaked into every inch of every surface- it was nothing like home.

All the while they walked, the tree that smelled like forests and dog spoke to her in a gruff and heavily accented voice. He told her stories about Hogwarts and gushed over the creatures he cared for and what lived in the forest beyond the grounds. He was kind to her. They eventually arrived at a portrait at the end of the hall. He introduced her to the kind lady painted there, and explained to her that it would be her own private room, one with its own passage out into the yards and forest beyond.

"The Headmaster is worried that yer housemates might be er… a little unprepared for ye- but not to worry I'm sure they'll be fine! Ye can visit the common room whenever ye wish, but firs' ye need to be sorted!"

* * *

And so she was sorted, finding herself in Ravenclaw, the house of the studious and intelligent.

* * *

That night under the shining moon, Luna explored the Forest, howling and playing under the trees, chasing (and being chased by) the werewolves that resided there. More intelligent than the average wolf, but not even approaching human levels, the beasts were the offspring from a coupling between a werewolf and a normal wolf. The big man, Hagrid he'd called himself, told her they'd been imported in but Luna liked to believe that once upon a time, a werewolf had graced Hogwarts halls. When she was finally panting and aching and ready to sleep, she went back to her room and dreamt up stories of a werewolf's adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Luna didn't really bother with her classes. She attended them of course, but she stayed curled up in shadows at the back of the room, listening to the theory but sleeping through the practical. After all, a wolf can't use a wand! Just a week later came the first full moon of her school year, however, and she was more than ready to try her best to catch up with her classes, make new friends, and attend the feasts!

It didn't really go as planned though. Her human day was during the weekend... she had thought that would be a good thing as it would let her make many new friends, but instead, she got scornful looks from some of her housemates. They were all jealous that she didn't need to attend classes. That wasn't very Ravenclaw, and Luna was very confused… she did attend her classes, perhaps no one had noticed her? She promised to make herself more known.

Luna decided she wasn't really the best at thinking. She had thought that after that promise, things would be normal and she could make friends, but that definitely didn't happen. No, instead her shoes went missing. Her shoes! Wolf Luna didn't get to wear clothes, and especially not shoes, so they were a real luxury. And they were missing. She didn't bother putting in the effort to get really upset though and wandered off in search of them.

She didn't even attend _any_ of the _three_ feasts that day, she was just so caught up in looking for her shoes. That was okay though, she could go next month… what really mattered was that she finally found her shoes at the top of the Astronomy Tower! They were stuck though, so she had to leave them, unfortunately. 

At least, the day went wasted for Luna. What she didn't know was that there were rumours springing up about her, and there were many students happily spreading them far and wide. The first rumour went that she was some kind of Faery. Did Faeries exist? Probably not, but that didn't stop anyone. Her white hair, large pale eyes, quiet voice, and requests for help solidly cemented her as some kind of Faery. So next came the arguments of what kind. Faeries didn't actually exist (probably) so there was no shortage of answers. Some kind of child-eating Faery that would ask you for help then lure you away and eat you. Some kind of benevolent Faery that would reward you if you chose to help her in her search. Some kind of cobbler Faery that was really just looking for the shoes she had crafted. Some kind of thief Faery, searching for and stealing the shoes of other students in the school.

It was a curious phenomenon. It was rather clear to anyone with half a mind that she wasn't a Faery, so why was almost the entire student body obsessed with the idea that she was? Indeed, there were Ravenclaws she had spoken to, who knew she was just a student, but none of them spoke up. Someone from the portion of the student body that didn't believe the silly rumour spoke up later, offering a more logical explanation. Obviously she was the secret love child of two professors. This rumour lasted even longer and blew up even more than the Faery rumour. Luna herself remained completely unaware of the wild speculation regarding her very existence and it was probably a good thing too, brainstorming Faery species was one thing but thinking up affairs between your _Professors_? No one could resist!

Every possible pairing was thought up; her mother was the most wildly speculated while her father was the more argumentative and debated topic. It was decided that her hair colour meant her only possible fathers were Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Lockhart, and Professor Snape. The arguments for Dumbledore pointed out his pale hair and twinkling blue eyes, while the arguments against pointed out, quite logically, that he was _old._ The arguments for Lockhart also pointed out his hair, even though his was blond and Luna’s was a lovely white, matching her wolf pelt. They also pointed out that no one had seen the girl at all any previous year, and he had just happened to come along at the same time.

Of course, those arguing against this had their own good points. Lockhart couldn't be the father _because_ he was so new! How could he have had an affair with one of the other Professors if he hadn't been around however many years ago? The idea that Luna's mother might not be another Professor was shut down immediately. Finally Snape. The arguments for him were short and simple. The first point was his hair, just like with Dumbledore and Lockhart. It was so greasy and black because he dyed it, obviously. The second point was that she was the reason he was grumpy all the time. The third point was that it was funny. Really the third point was the only one that mattered, and it's existence made it impossible to fight back and disprove the theory.

These rumours lasted weeks, but it actually only took a couple of days after her first sighting for another rumour to pop up. You see, Luna showed up to class, like normal, but this time she made an effort to sit in a seat behind a desk and participate. She couldn't talk… or do magic… or really do much at all, but at least she was there, right? She found sitting on a seat difficult but she managed and was rather proud of herself for it. Her classmates stared and whispered, attempting to figure out why there was a _wolf_ sitting in a chair behind a desk. This time it was a Ravenclaw that started the rumour. The theory was even more simple than the last two, and you would think that maybe someone would come up with the idea that she was some sort of anti-werewolf, and you would be right!

But that wasn't the rumour that was started oh no, everyone brushed that off. After all, anti-werewolves don't exist, and it was just absurd to imagine that maybe they could! No one brought up Faeries lack of existence. No no, the theory that came from a wolf showing up to the lessons was even more simple than magic, it was actually quite muggle. Luna Lovegood was a wolf tamer! What a good prank it was, sending a trained wolf in to sit in her place and pretend to attend class! It explained so much, no wonder she was never in the common room, she had wolves to look after! No wonder a wolf was in her place at the sorting, it was prank foreshadowing!

This rumour wasn't as popular, there was no scandal, no magic, but it was interesting enough in its concept that it… evolved. A muggleborn was purely to blame for the exponential increase in absurdity that the rumour went through. How could you tell? Well, obviously he or she was inspired by some movies, telling everyone about how Luna must be some kind of spy or secret agent. And so the two theories mixed and with a little dash of magic added, out came the newest and shiniest theory. The unnamed blonde girl that quietly stalked the halls of Hogwarts with her trained wolves was a special agent working for the Ministry, likely as a spy. Trained since childhood, the girl was fast and dangerous, and her age made her unassuming and gave her the element of surprise should she ever be caught. The "shoes" she was looking for weren't actually real shoes, it was a codename. A person? A weapon? An artifact? No one could be sure, but if the Ministry was sending in such a specialist then it must be something important.

By the time the next full moon came along, the student body was torn and at war with one another, each faction trying to prove their theory. Students were allying with students from other houses and sneaking out past curfew to follow the small wolf. The teachers that caught them _tried_ to tell them that they were being silly and of course the wolf wasn't working for the Ministry, but the younger years were too caught up in their mission to care. Many of the upper years encouraged the rumours, finding the outlandish stories to be hilarious and the youngins to be most entertaining. There were, of course, some that found the whole thing to be an annoyance and stupid, but they were in the minority.

With the new full moon, Luna again wandered the halls looking for her shoes, but this time she had to attend classes as well. She decided to sit far in the back, not wanting everyone to see her lack of experience of practice. Each class, she tried her very best to complete the given spells, succeeding rather quickly for someone that had only ever practised in her head. It was unfortunate that the full moon was on the day she had no potions, but it couldn't be helped. She decided not to attend the feasts. She had promised herself she would go but she just couldn't work up the courage to go in when it finally came time. Finding her shoes had become an excuse, but that was okay, she really did want them back. Of course, when she finally made it up the tower, her shoes were gone without a trace.

Disappointed, she wandered the halls again looking for help. It seemed that was how she was going to be spending all her time as a human. Everyone she asked for help ran off, except for one second year. He had black messy hair, bright green eyes hidden behind poorly repaired glasses, and he smelled like lightning. Perfect to match the scar on his forehead, she thought.

"Your shoes? Where were they last, I'll help you look for them." Luna smiled brightly. That was very kind of him to say so.

"I left them at the top of the Astronomy Tower, but when I came back to get them, they were gone." Harry blinked. Yes, Harry, that was his name! Father had told her about Harry Potter!

"Top of the Astronomy Tower? Okay well, let's go look for them...?" It sounded like a question so Luna nodded and they went off searching. He asked important questions, like how long they had been missing, what did they look like, things like that, so she knew he really was trying to help. They didn't find them.

A new rumour took off, accidentally started by Hermione Granger. You see Hermione loved research, she loved knowing things that other people didn't know and she loved more than anything telling people all about the thing they didn't know. She was also terrible at keeping her voice down, so when Harry told her about his encounter with Luna at breakfast the next day, everyone heard her rambling. According to Hermione, people from Japan took their shoes off before committing suicide so maybe she was a ghost! No one else had ever heard of this, but Hermione said she had read it in a book so it must be true. No one cared that the other ghosts never mentioned Luna before, and no one cared that Luna seemed rather solid and colourful, unlike every ghost they had ever seen.

All the evidence was piling up, everything was making sense. Lost shoes? Pale hair, skin, and eyes? Leaving her shoes on top of the Astronomy Tower? Doesn't show up to class? Not being scolded by the teachers when she finally did show up? Doing spells she hadn't been at class for? Even Harry Potter said that her shoes had been missing for "a long long time"! A ghost was the answer! Some people who had already had their own theory for a month at that point didn't replace their original one so much as merged it with the new one. Suddenly her spy abilities were enhanced by her ghostly-ness, her status as an unfortunate result of a teachers affair became tragic, the girl committing suicide because of a whole host of reasons, depending on who you asked.

Some people found the new theory insensitive, they spoke about how it made light of real issues in the world. Some found the opposite, pointing out how much more knowledgeable many students became because of their own research into the topic. Yet still, no one thought to ask the girl. Well, not about what she really was, at least.

But before the next full moon, something very curious happened. There was a weird smell coming from the walls, but Luna couldn't tell what it was for the life of her. It didn't worry her much until she caught wind of her first rumour, though it wasn't one about her. Not yet at least. No, the rumour spoke about Harry Potter and a petrified cat, Mrs Norris, the scratchy little thing that liked to annoy Luna. She couldn't help but worry; something petrified that cat, could it petrify her? She couldn't worry too much though, this was Hogwarts! Even when the legend of the Chamber of Secrets made its rounds she kept calm.

What she didn't know was just how much the students loved their gossip. Suddenly she was a prime suspect for the heir. She couldn't be a victim, no no it was already concluded that she had indeed killed herself, but as a possible child of Snape the dark Faery, raised to be a spy or assassin with the ability to command beasts to follow her, it just made sense. Things were getting out of hand but well… Luna was still completely oblivious to the rumours. 

You would think the enhanced wolf senses would let her know what was happening but no one knew her name so she never had context for what she heard. If someone spoke about ghosts, she wouldn't automatically assume it was about her, after all, she has nothing to do with ghosts. She thought the other students following her were just curious; it's not every day you have the chance to see a wolf up close… though she guessed it _was_ every day now that she attended Hogwarts.

When the next full moon came, she wasn't nearly as excited as last time. Oh, how she missed her shoes. They were like a warm blanket for her feet, making her socks extra effective. (Socks were nice too but wolves can wear socks so they didn't have the same charm that her shoes had.) She was cheered up a bit when, while searching for her shoes, she was approached by a pair of tall redheads. You might think the curious chaps would want to know the truth to the rumours but they already had a pretty good idea as to what she was and had a much different question in mind.

Luna quite liked their first impression. They were smiley and bubbly and had an aura of mischief. They even asked for her name! They had noticed how she was only ever around on the full moon and felt that she would be the perfect person to aid them in their pranks. Luna wasn't sure how, being a wolf most of the time, but they explained to her that their little brother "Ronniekins" was going to be brewing a "polyjuice potion" and he's going to let them have some. They told her how it worked and asked for a couple of locks of hair if she could spare some. Of _course_ Luna agreed! They seemed like such fun boys and she knew everyone needed some fun, the stench of anxiety was palpable between classes. She gave them the hairs then, not sure when the potion would be done or if her fur would work.

She was very glad she had given them her hair when she heard more of those rumours. Apparently a young boy had been petrified! Everyone was scared more than ever, and many were using her as their scapegoat, wanting something known to be behind it, something they felt like they could deal with. Her supposed identity was becoming more and more complex every day and she didn't even know it!

A new and very strange rumour popped up after that. People were claiming to worship her, dubbing her the Personification-Of-Magic Itself. Funnily enough, the rumour was started by Draco Malfoy, a second-year Slytherin known as a bit of a bully. He had started the rumour to dupe others into worshipping some random girl but it got even more out of hand than he had expected when his own friends started revering her too! It was lucky that Luna's next full moon was during the time they saw her as good luck, and not while everyone thought she was some murderous Slytherin. No, now she was some Bringer-Of-Justice, punishing those that stepped out of line. After all, no one had _died_ yet. Being paralysed wasn't _that_ bad.

She was especially lucky because her shoes were returned to her! She was ecstatic! She was so happy in fact, she actually attended dinner! Sure, she sat alone at the end of the table, sure no one spoke to her, but that wasn't the point. The point was, she was there! No one could stop talking about their luck the next day. Someone had given her back her shoes and now she was blessing them all with her presence! Everyone felt as though their magic was boosted and their spells performed extra well. It had nothing to do with Luna, of course, they were just actually trying now that they were out of their funk. Well, technically it had something to do with her. Technically. Really it was mostly those twin boys and the potion they put in the food that makes people think less about things, in turn making people rather gullible. Not a fool-proof or strong potion but perceived peer pressure is powerful.

Luna's wolf life was rather uninteresting. You would think wolves do really cool things when the sun goes down but… really they just laze around and play tag. In class, she didn't really do anything either. Her teachers didn't mind, they knew she was only at school because it was required, she wasn't planning for it to go anywhere. After all, one day she would become a wolf and never change back. But she was excited for the duelling club anyway. She thought it might be entertaining to watch. Now earlier in the year she had decided that she wasn't very good at thinking but this time she was right.

Harry Potter can talk to snakes! Could he talk to other animals? Maybe he could talk to her! Did that mean snakes were the smartest animals? Wolves didn't talk and weren't very smart, and she had assumed every animal was the same but if snakes could talk to people… she had never met a snake before, she should find one!

Luna had no idea where to find a snake.

Luna was kind of sad. The school term was ending in only a couple days, and another student had been petrified along with a ghost! Things weren't really going the best for Hogwarts… she had been given the choice to stay at school or go home for the break, but she didn't think it really mattered that much. There wasn't a full moon during the two-week break, and even though she loved her father he wasn't usually… there mentally… she guessed it was probably best to go home and avoid the monster, like a lot of students, but at least at school she could play in the forest.

She decided to stay, but not many others did the same. The rumours about her had died down a bit with everyone being genuinely afraid of whatever Slytherins monster is, but of course, she didn't know that they even existed in the first place!

Nothing really happened during the holidays, no new victims falling to Slytherins monster, no real drama, nothing really important. A few rumours did pop up but with most students gone, they weren't the most successful. Snape's Ghost daughter had been found practising high-level spells and conversing with her wolf about secrets. The school really needed a name for her.

Luna was happy to help out the twins, and especially happy when they started spending a lot of time with her while she was in wolf form. They had decided it would be very funny if people saw the wolf and Luna together. Luna thought it was funny because everyone knew that the wolf was her and talking to herself would freak people out, while the twins thought it was funny because it "confirmed" some rumours. It didn't matter either way though, as all Luna cared about was the human interaction. The boys had quite a few doses of the potion and were planning with her what kind of pranks they should pull using them.

Once the students arrived back they got to work. Only three days after the break ended it was the full moon, and all three of them dressed up for the occasion. They were meant to have classes but the boys skipped regularly and none of the teachers minded what Luna did. Luna was dressed in white flowy robes courtesy of the twins' transfiguration, and she sat at the top of the astronomy tower, despite the classes that were present. She didn't acknowledge anyone, just sat there. One twin wore tight black leather, which he claimed muggleborns said was a spy uniform. He snuck around the castle using the hidden passages to disappear and reappear wherever he needed and used some sort of special map to follow around students then disappear. The other twin wore Luna's uniform and, armed with Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, stalked Snape around the castle. Luna didn't know why they were doing these things specifically but didn't bother asking.

The rumours that had started to tire were back and bigger than ever. Everyone argued about which theory was right all over again, everyone agreeing that there was no way she was in 3 places at once. The conclusion was simple, someone had to be lying.

Luna was just happy that everyone else seemed a lot more energetic than before the break. But then things got boring again. Oh sure there were still rumours but Luna didn't know about them. Oh sure she was spending more time with people but she couldn't do more than answer yes and no questions. Oh sure exams were coming up but Luna wasn't taking them.

There was another full moon just before Valentine's, and Luna spent it with the twins, just talking. They had been continuing to use her image to hide their pranks, the teachers knowing someone was tricking them because Luna was a wolf nearly every day, it couldn't actually be her doing them. Luna herself made the most fun she could in the forest, but really, the year was getting tiring and she just wanted to sleep.

Dumbledore stopped being Headmaster at some point, and the kind mountain Hagrid was sent to wizard prison. Luna regretted never thinking of visiting him. There was another full moon, and Luna knew it was nearly the last one in the school year. She tried to make the most of it and make some friends, but the rumours had done their damage and only the gossips cared about talking to her.

She did follow Ron Weasley and Harry Potter into the forbidden forest once, and she was glad she did when they got attacked by acromantulas. Luna didn't like hurting things but she wasn't too sad when she fought with them against the spiders. It was mean of the spiders to do that. 

The school was abuzz about a week later when a student got taken into the Chamber itself. The twins told Luna that it was their little sister Ginny, a student from her own year. Luna waited with the twins, waited for some news about her wellbeing.

She sat there confused when the young redhead held onto her fur and cried. Harry Potter saved the young Weasley from the Chamber and killed Slytherins monster. It was a rather happy ending she thought. In fact, every petrified student was unpetrified! It was a very happy ending. Especially when Ginny Weasley started to hang out with her, and helped her practice spells on the next full moon. Exams were cancelled but that didn't matter to the wolf. Of course, someone started a new rumour saying that Harry fought the Basilisk with the help of Snape's Ghost Daughter and her wolf, and again the arguments resumed.

Luna definitely didn't think she was good at thinking but she thought that the year had gone rather well all things considered. She briefly wondered if next year would be the same, but she knew it would, without a doubt. No thinking required.


End file.
